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I saw a picture that referred to Flathead Lake. I fell in love with the lake a few years ago driving north and over the hill into Posen. I was not expecting that huge lake with mountains cradling it. I have been back to the area a few times and have found little about sailing on the lake. Coming up with a chart is not easy either.
Anyone sailing there? Cruising or day sailing? What does the lake have to offer?
Go to Flathead Lake, MT via either google maps or google earth. As you scan in closer to the lake you can see where some of the shoals develop. Looks like a beautiful area.
The next time you pass through there in nice weather you should bring a kayak, canoe, day sailor, windsurfer or something along so you can check the lake out for yourself, meet the locals and report back to us. There are a few other sailors out in your general area; BobMcGov is one of them who is also a member here and knows something about high altitude lake sailing: bobmcgov also on sailnet.
I used to own a San Juan 28 and the online owners club had several posts from a fellow who lived and sailed on Flathead Lake, MT. I'vre lost track of the URL but I'm sure you can Google for San Juan 28.
There is a marina right across the water from Mission Mountain winery in Dayton, MT. I spent the night on the beach when bike touring. There is a friendly bar in Dayton, too. The lake is really big and I saw people sailing out there.
Haven't sailed Flathead, tho we would like to. It's nearly as far away as the Pacific, tho -- big states out West! Flathead's a bit larger than Yellowstone, and like Yellowstone you'll need to pick your anchorages carefully. Looks like the only holding under 50ft deep is in the south-western lobes. The narrow passages between Finley Point and Bull Island may get ROCKING in a notherly wind -- depth goes from 400' to 20' in a matter of a hundred yards, and I bet the chop could grow enormously in those narrow slots.
Garmin's Inland Lakes series has fairly detailed bathymetrics and shoreline for Flathead. The lake is very deep along its Eastern and Northern shores. I'm told the lake is a mix of developed and natural shoreline. Fishing is supposed to be world-class. We'll make the trip one of these days -- it looks like a fascinating lake, with all its bays and islands.
There have been several articles recounting the racing on Flathead Lake, probably in Sailing World and IIRC most recently in Sailing. The most recent one talked about them racing three different evenings a week during the summer. There was a 6 meter out there too at one point, mentioned in an article in Woodenboat. The racing seems to originate from a yacht club on the eastern shore just south of Kalispell.
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